He couldn’t hold them back after his Muskegon Big Reds won the Class A state championship in boys basketball by rolling to a 91-67 victory against Bloomfield Hills on Saturday at the Breslin Center.

It was the ninth trip to the final four for Guy as a player, assistant coach and head coach between Muskegon Heights and Muskegon since 1993, but his first state title.

“I want to give God the glory. This championship has been a long time coming,” Guy said. “We’ve been trying to climb this mountain for years and finally made it to the top. I’m just excited for these guys.”

Muskegon had the pressure as the top-ranked team in the state most of the season and finished it off with a 28-0 record.

“We talked about it with these guys leaving nothing in the tank,” Guy said. “Just empty ourselves. We went 28 games and we didn’t want to leave anything here. We wanted to go back with the state championship trophy.”

That’s exactly what they did and that’s why Guy was so emotional after the game. He shed tears after the game and in post-game interviews.

“We’ve been climbing the mountain for so long. It’s a lot of emotions go into this. You work hard and I’m not going to be able to coach these seniors again. I love them,” Guy said. “They do things the right way. They deserve this. I’m happy for them. I’m happy for the community. For my ex-players who all tried to get to this place and fell short, this trophy is for everybody.”

Guy had the mutual respect of his players who talked about the family bond of the team.

“I’ve been playing for coach since the eighth grade, since coming out of the summer,” said Muskegon guard Deshaun Thrower, who earned Mr. Basketball and will go on to play at Stony Brook University next year. “We’ve built a bond, a relationship with me and him and my parents. He’s like another father and he looks after me on and off the court. He’s going to continue to do that and we’ll still have that bond even after high school. That’s what’s good about it.”

Guy not only bridged the gap for the former Heights players when he made the switch as coach of the Big Reds last season, but also between sports.

Guy is the school’s athletic director and has worked well with Muskegon football coach Shane Fairfield.

“What I love about it is ... is his discipline and his expectations and his championship mentality,” Fairfield said. “The first thing I said when they hired him was 'this is good for us' because he brings a championship mentality in basketball that we have in football and you mix those two together, only him and I can mess it up now.

“Him and I have blueprints for success. He definitely has a blueprint for success, so now it’s just continuing to get the kids to buy in and believe in it.”

Fairfield has even done a little basketball scouting for Guy during the tournament and was happy to help out.

“It’s the fire in his gut that I enjoy watching,” Fairfield said. “I like watching his practices and love the way he prepares and to me it’s the same way we prepare and it’s going to flow over from year to year to come.”

Tim Mitchelson, who was an assistant coach for Guy for four seasons at Muskegon Heights, was on hand to watch from the stands.

“He’s a good person and real good coach,” Mitchelson said about Guy before the game. “Obviously, he really wants to win one, but it’s one of those things you get down here and everybody is good. You’ve had a great season to make it to the final four. You give it your best shot and hope you get some breaks along the way.”

It turns out Muskegon didn’t need many. An eight-point win against Hudsonville in the regional finals was the closest game in the tournament.

Muskegon’s margin of victory was an average of 22 points in eight tournament games and Saturday’s title game marked the widest spread in a Class A title game since Detroit Pershing beat Benton Harbor 74-42 in 1992.

“To not lose a game, that’s pretty special,” Guy said. “This team will go down in history as one of the best teams ever in the state of Michigan.”

Mark Opfermann covers sports for MLive Muskegon Chronicle. Email him at mopferma@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter and Facebook.